6 Reasons Being a 30-Year-Old Gamer Isn't Always So Fun

So, a few months back I turned 30. Yup, I’ve been on this planet for three decades — I can feel my love of Wether’s Originals and porch-sitting increase by the day. I also, like many guys my age, still regularly play video games. A few grey hairs aren’t going to bust me and Mario apart dammit!

Here’s the thing though, and I think my fellow senior citizens can back me up on this one — once you start nearing the big three-oh, gaming starts to feel less satisfying than it once did. Yeah, studies have shown the average gamer is actually around 32, but for the most part gaming is still a hobby designed for teenagers. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be a gamer, but the following are some of the reasons I’ll probably never enjoy games as much as I did when I was 16…

There’s Not Enough Time

For years I had a real size obsession when it came to games — the longer a game promised it was on the back of the box the more excited I got. Hearing a game took less than 20-hours to beat was enough to immediately turn me off. Now, unless I have somebody paying me to finish a game quickly, a 20-hour game can take me weeks or even months to complete.

Taking that long to get through a game often really deadens its impact. You forget what you were doing last time you played, you’re always trying to re-familiarize yourself with the controls, and there’s no sense of momentum — you hit a hard spot and sometimes you end up stuck there for weeks. It would be like if you tried to watch an episode of Mad Men in 1-minute increments over the span of two months.

For maximum impact I think, ideally, you should try to beat most games in around 5-10 play sessions, but when you rarely have the opportunity to sit down for longer than an hour to play, that RPG is going to take you more like 40-50 sessions. I can only imagine how bad it will get once I actually become a for-real adult with kids and a house and all that stuff.

I Have Too Much Damn Money

Every new video game used to be something special. I remember carrying a 15-pound sack of change to K-Mart to buy Phantasy Star IV, the first game I ever bought entirely with my own money. Unsurprisingly Phantasy Star IV is still one of my top three favorite games of all time.

I love you Phantasy Star IV.

Now that I’m a grown-up person, 50 dollars is nothing. I spent 50 dollars on dinners I eat in 20-minutes all the time. The thrill of buying a game is gone. Instead of buying a game and playing the hell out of it until I’ve memorized every pixel, I have half-a-dozen games sitting around in a state of semi-completion. Worst of all, my mind has been permanently warped by the days when new games were so rare and special. My pile of half-finished games weighs on me — I spend more time feeling guilty about not giving them the attention they deserve than I do actually, you know, playing them.

Yeah, this hit just about everything. I’m cruising towards 38, and the time factor is a huge thing as more than anything else I’m finally serious about my career. Yet I have all these partially explored games sitting around. The last games I played all the way through were the Sly Cooper games. I don’t even try to play FPS anymore and haven’t for nearly a decade. In the late 90s I was involved in a QuakeWorld CTF mod (ThunderWalker) that was designed to be faster and twitchier. But now if I try I’m the “What button makes the gun go” guy. Part of that is because that experience burned me out on the whole thing. Still, at least back then the people questioning my sexuality and the farm animals my mother was inclined to had at least a partial college education! /olditry.

I just turned 30 myself, and something I’ve noticed actually is that really short games piss me off. Like, if I can’t get at least ten hours or so out of a game, I get annoyed, because why did I piss away $60 on something that doesn’t last?

I went through that stage too, but now, not yet 40 but definitely not 30, I don’t have time to finish ANYTHING. So most times I don’t even bother–I’ve beaten like 3 games in the past 2 years. I finished Epic Mickey because it was a Christmas gift. I re-finished Castlevania SotN because I’d beaten it before, it’s the greatest game ever, and I can play in bite sized chunks without feeling like I’m going to miss something.

I dunno, maybe I just don’t give myself enough free time. I really think I’m a product of being (deep breath porky, you can admit this…) a generation up on you guys. I came up in the arcades and early 8-bit era. Games didn’t become a regular 50-100 hour quest until I was almost done with high school. Hell, I used to think ZORK was grueling. (get it? Grue-ling…GAH, damn kids.)

I hit 30 very recently as well, and I grew up on games like River City Ransom, Final Fight and Battletoads.

What kills me about games today **pulls up a rocking chair next to Nate on the Grumpy Old Gamer porch** is how Unnecessary/Powerful these corporate publishers have become. The big guys like EA and Activision are no longer really needed and now, more and more, act like huge parasites on the Gaming Industry.
Back in the day they were crucial in that most games never would’ve had an audience in the first place if they weren’t there to promote and publish/distribute.
But now we have this thing called the internet and Gaming has its own massive culture that has very much become part of the mainstream and can support itself.

Now these parasites are fucking shit up for gamers every where as they re-program these damn kids today to accept all these little ways the Big Publishers try to fuck us out of every last nickle and dime on their games.
IE: Day One dlc, micro-transactions for in-game consumables, dlc thats pre-loaded ON the damn disc, skins, costumes, extra characters etc.

**grabs a Werther’s out of Nathan’s crystal bowl**

Anyone remember when you bought a game and you got the whole damn game? And beating said game would unlock extra costumes, skins, bonus levels/modes withOUT charging you more fucking money? Fuck I feel old now…

I don’t really have much more money than I did when I was a teenager or in my twenties, but what I DO have is Steam sales. I’ve probably bought fifty games in the last two years in the $3-$20 range that have languished with at most an hour or two of play – not because they aren’t worth playing, but because three days later something else is on sale, and I buy that and start playing that immediately instead. . . at least until the Midweek Madness sale ad pops up on Wednesday. . .

Yeah this too. I buy a lot of cheap used games and the collection builds up. I probably have 20 original XBox and PS2 games that I never spent more than a few minutes of “okay, this works, I’ll get to it later” on.

I’m gettin’ close to 30, and I sympathize with these complaints, except one. A couple months ago, my brother and I were cleaning out our game room, and we found our old SNES, and a copy of Battletoads & Double Dragons. So we gave it a whirl.

When I was a kid, I had the WORST time on the hoverbike levels. I was not rad. Now, however, they’re a breeze. All the parts of old games that I remember being fiendishly difficult are a breeze now. I’m alright w/ getting old.

Being older definitely lets you know which games were hard because you were a kid and which were just unreasonable. Go ahead and play Captain America and the Avengers game that was arcade and SNES. Fucking money grab if I ever played one.

Hit the nail on the head. I am in my mid 30’s and have been feeling this same stuff. Worse than anything though, is how bad I used to kick everyone’s asses at competitive gaming and now I get my ass handed to me by teenagers. This is a real ego hit. And I can’t even use photoshopping as an excuse for sucking now. Guess I’m just old.

Expanding on an earlier comment, BTW, if any of you on 360 ever purchase indie games, pick up “Dead Pixels”. It’s $1, multiple game modes, and it’s River City Ransom with zombies. Did I mention it’s ONE DOLLAR?

35 on Thursday, and I totally get what you’re saying. I got LA Noire for Xmas, and have yet to complete more than the tutorial case. I keep hoping Ratchet and Clank will live on forever. And I still can’t get the hang of Call of Duty, no matter how hard I try. So you know what I do?

I gave up the competitive side of gaming a while back. I’m not interested in showing people how bad my reflexes are. My last MMO was City of Heroes, which I played from Beta through about a year ago. That’s a ridiculous amount of time to hang onto the same MMO. When DCU Online and Champions Online failed to keep me after their betas, I pretty much dumped MMOs.

So what do I do these days? Mostly iPad games. That way I can play something in 5 to 20 minutes rather than 8 hours (“Is it really that late? I’ve got to go to work in another 2 hours!”).

Plus, I’ll be honest… the dog keeps me from sitting at the computer for too long. I get the needy “sad eyes” and end up putting it aside. It sucks to feel responsible for things.

Turning 33 next month. With a disposable income, I have games piling up that I’ve just barely cracked open. There’s just no time any more. I remember being in college and having ample time to waste playing counterstrike and DAOC all day long. I used to beat every game that came my way. Le sigh.

I think that it is actually a lose on the fact that you only commit to the very best games. That means that when a company makes a game that is succesful, instead of making different games they just make the same game over again, but in Russia instead of Iraq. So you see lots and lots and lots of sequels but very few original good games.

I hate this article because I agree with every single point in it. I think that actually means I like it, but I’m too old and bitter to know the difference. The Nintendo Art Style series for Wii and DSi are the best games I’ve played in years, partly because they’re the only games I’ve had time for, but there’s also something about them that takes me back to the days when I had nothing better to play video games. Maybe because they’re just very well crafted in spite of being $5 downloads. I only wish there were more than like… five other people who have played them.

Yeah this is shockingly spot on – I have a 3 year old and a 3.5 week old and it does make gaming life harder. I work shifts ranging from 8.5-10.5 hours but have been on paternity/annual leave for the past 3 weeks and I’ve managed about 12 hours gaming all in all. Before the new arrival, my gaming was mainly done late at night when the other half is sleeping and I’m not working the next day (so that’s 1 or 2 nights on average a week). If I was off on the weekend I’d normally have Saturday afternoons to play the PS3 when I have the house to myself. But then I gotta fit time for cleaning in too. I don’t get as much enjoyment out of gaming as I did purely because I can’t sit for hours on end care-free because I have responsibilities I never had as a teen. I used to have 12+ hour gaming sessions with minimal food intake and the occasional toilet break. Those were the days.

I’m about three years away from turning 30 myself and I generally agree with just about everything you said in this article. One thing though, I intend to fight back a little bit and have been spending hideous amounts of time building a YouTube channel where I’m looking at (and download linking) tons of (almost always) free indie games for pc… you see when you mentioned that you had to retrain your brain to like what’s new and current, as a gamer of the same time period as you, that makes me upset. Games don’t need to change because the next generation after us is obsessed with generally shallow gaming experiences… there are MASSIVE amounts of great stuff out there that just doesn’t get talked about in the gaming media. So, stop by my channel and check out my 1st impressions playlist, I look at a new game every night and I can 100% guarantee you will be inspired… then come say hi in the comments so I know I can high-five you. :)

30 next month. I’m gonna say something that sounds crazy but here goes… Try playing games standing up. Any game not just motion games that require you to stand. I might have tapped into some primeval arcade gesture or something, but I feel more engaged and less guilty and I absorb more of the experience even if I just play for a few minutes. Also Max Payne 1 is on iPhone now sucka!

To be fair, I’m further along my life path than you are: I’m turning 41 this year and already have the spouse (in my case, husband), the two kids, and the house. The reasons you laid out may have indeed been true for me when I was 30, but, like so many things, It Changes. So, there is reason to enjoy games again after 40, and I’ll lay them out in response to yours:

1) “Not enough time.” This is very true at 30. You are building your life, still getting anxious over everyday stuff, wondering if this is it and if you are grown up yet. I can tell you that as a parent, although you will have even *less* time while the kids are underfoot, when they are in bed, suddenly turning off the brain and spacing out over the console seems like a great big slice of chocolate covered-heaven.

2) “I have too much damn money”. You will not have that problem anymore if you decide to get married, buy a house and have children. Suddenly that 50 bucks will look like a whole hell of a lot more than it used to, especially if it makes the difference between eating that week or paying the power bill. Unless it’s a game I’m *very* excited about and know I will Play the Crap out of, I will either get it used to borrow it from a friend.

3) “Nobody Makes the Stuff I Like Anymore”. There’s a number of crowdfunded (i.e. Kickstarter) indie games addressing that very issue. That, and you will learn to like new stuff. See reason #1.

4) “I Keep Dying Because I’m Too Decrepit And Distracted.” Yes. And you’ll keep trying because dammit, you already have one or two little Overlords sabotaging your every task and you’ll be damned if some crappy digital avatar gets the best of you. Kids make you determined. Plus the exhaustion will keep you from giving a crap about distractions. See Reason #1.

5) “I Actually Find Myself Getting Offended”. Speaking as a woman in a largely male-dominated world of video gaming, yes, some of the sophomoric humor and sexism gets tiresome. But things that used to bother me just don’t anymore (yep, Reason #1), and if I get offended, the console “off” button is just a click away. Even if it means I have to get up to turn if off. Oh hell, just gimmee a beer and I’ll just fanatsize about turning it off.

6) “I Should Give In, But I Can’t.” No, you should not. Part of keeping your sanity in this world is making time to do things that you like, because so much of your time is spent doing things that you don’t like. (Work, dishes, wiping poop, etc.) Keep yourself sane, so you can keep it together for those in your life who depend on you.

So, there’s reason to hope for your gaming habit. You may have hit a plateau at the moment, but when those hills start up again, video gaming is a wonderful, escapist harbor to catch your breath.

Hahahaha, your dismay at being a gamer turning 30 is bloody hilarious and spot on. Wait ’till you’re staring 60 in the face like me: you will look at your words and–well, I won’t spoil the surprise…gaming is still great fun AFAIAC! See you on PSN!

The “Being Offended” point hits home for me. I also find it contradictory to my nature; I have no problem looking up explicit content on my computer, but put it in a video game at a point where it brings me out of a story is offensive. I guess this is where the term “obligatory” comes in. The older I get, the more of the kiddie BS I want out of “my stories.” Damn I’m getting old….

hahahah I have the same problem as you… I became 30 in september… and what are you telling us is the really and sad reality… we are getting old… and games nowaday get us far away from what we played before… its sad….

Ugh. I counted the games I have not completed the other day actually. At least 11 of them. I have 3 day weekends but I find myself playing either zelda or black ops 2 (and muting every lobby I get into along the way.) In the past month Ive been making a lot of old school game purchases. Especially on my 3ds…but…the only ones I play are ones where they are basically mini games that can be saved every 10 minutes. RPGs?

Ugh… bought bravely default which was supposed to be spectacular…I played it for about an hour over a month ago. Sometimes I have the time, but I’m so trained in the thinking of “I could be doing something more productive right now” that I never even get close to completing them.

Thank you very much for your effort on this article. Really hit the nail on the head and made me a bit nostalgic.

If you think about it, the reason games aren’t as fun anymore, is the superior graphics and story presentation has cut in line ahead of imagination. Our imagination is what made games so fun way back when. It’s bad that the latest and greatest games no longer require our imagination. But it’s worse when you think of the children today and the impact it is having on their impressionable minds.

This is dead on. I’m 37 now, basically in the grave, and I have always been a gamer. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of FPS/MOBA games and sometimes I talk on the mic when things get crazy. This sometimes ends in me getting insulted in some way.

I’ve been clowned on so hard haha. “You sound like some old spastic 30-year-old” some cruel child said to me in the chat box.

“Whoa, how old are you? You should get voice surgery” was another one because apparently I guess my voice sounds like a cement mixing plant that is being swallowed by a sinkhole.

30 is young to me now which makes my heart sad, and my stomach gassy, and my knees kinda hurt, and my…oh well you get the point.

Getting old sucks and having a bunch of smirking teens remind you of it is no fun, so I’ve decided to shamble back to games that no whippersnappers would have the patience or desire to play. Mainly Everquest, which I started playing when I was 15 and, luckily, is still around.

Kids wont play it because its terribly complicated, visually outdated, intentionally unhelpful, and filled with old fogies who actually know who Kurt Loder is. A 50-year-old could blend in seamlessly in the vast realm of Norrath.

I have to go now, I pulled something in my foot typing this out, and have to lay down.